Research Interests

Excavating Islamic archaeology in Turkmenistan
Excavating in Sudan

As the Whittlesey Chair of History and Archaeology at the American University of Beirut, Emily conducted archaeological field-work in Sudan and Turkmenistan. Previously, as the Chief Epigrapher of the Brown University-Cairo University Epigraphic Survey at the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, she directed epigraphic work for seven years at the most famous ancient site in the world.

Dr. O’Dell is currently working on several manuscripts and a host of new articles on everything from ancient Egyptian masks to 18th century Turkmen poetry and punk/anarchism in Asia.  Her other current research projects and publications touch upon the following fields: Politics & religion in Russia; Javanese shadow puppetry; Kumzari; Persian poetry and film; Islam legal anthropology; South Arabian literature; Late Egyptian literature; ancient Egyptian emotion (a field she inaugurated); archaeology (Turkmenistan, Sudan, & Egypt); Mongolian shamanism; disability in global cinema; post-exoticism.  She is also currently writing a memoir on her time in China and Tibet.

Not content to contain her teaching to the rigid confines of a university classroom, she has also taught students outside of “official” educational spaces in the U.S. and Middle East — such as Syrian refugees, young cancer patients in Beirut, at-risk Providence youth, and developmentally disabled adults in Rhode Island.

At work in Sudan
Excavating at the Giza Pyramids
Doing epigraphy in the Egyptian Museum
Doing epigraphy on recently returned objects to the Egyptian Museum (Photo: Emily O'Dell)
Doing epigraphy on returned objects to the Egyptian Museum
Exploring Aljun Castle with the World Archaeological Congress in Jordan

LECTURES & PANELS (SELECTED):

  • “Considering Kumzari: Exploring the Linguistic and Geographic Boundaries of Persian Studies [minorities in Oman],” Third International Conference on Iranian Studies, Tehran University, 2023.
  • “Ancient Egyptian Emotion: Historicizing Emotion as a Discursive Category and Object of Study in Egyptology,” Before Emotion II: Further Conversations on Affectivity in Pre-Modern Cultures Colloquium, NYU Center for Ancient Studies, 2023.
  • “Myanmar’s Border Literature: Rohingya Poetry, Prose, and Theatre as Resistance [ethnic minorities in Mynamar],” Borders / Crossing Borders in Contemporary Literature & Culture Conference (Algerian Ministry of Higher Education and the University of Mohamed Boudiaf of M’sila), 2023.
  • “Sustaining Sumba [ethnic minorities & religions in Indonesia]: Literary & Ecocultural Assemblages of Nature and Spirituality,” International Conference on Mobility, Virtuality and Transculturality in Travel Literature, Aboubekr Belkaid University of Tlemcen, (Algeria), February 2024.
  • “Ecologies of Female Genital Mutilation in Oman: Clitographies of Violence in Islamic Law, Communal Practice, and Sexual Tourism,” Free University (Berlin), April 2022.
  • “Islamic Legal Production in the Pandemic: A Survey of Global Fatwas on COVID-19,” The International Conference on Global Developments in the Corona & Post-Corona Eras, Tehran University, Islamic Republic of Iran, March 2022.
  • “Memories of Sexual Slavery in Zanzibar and Oman in Literature, Testimonials, and Film,” Harvard University (CMES Director’s Series), April 2021.
  • “Modern Slavery in Oman,” Seminar on the Middle East, Columbia University, May 2021.
  • “Minority Matters: Traversing Difference, Borders, and History with Mongolians, Tibetans and Uyghurs,” Yale University, Fall 2021.
  • “Resisting the Real Rumi: Occidental Misappropriations & Mistranslations of Molana,” Tehran University, Islamic Republic of Iran, November 2021.
  • “Islamic Mysticism in Indonesia: Artistic Appropriations of Sufism in Java,” American Institute for Indonesian Studies Conference, Michigan State University, June 2021.
  • “An Exalted Sufi: Venerating Rumi in Egypt from the Ottoman Empire to Turkey,” Exalted Spirits: The Veneration of the Dead in Egypt through the Ages conference in Cairo, The American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE), The American University in Cairo (AUC) and the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (MoTA).
  • “Spiritual Technologies of Surveillance in Malta: Slavery, Superstition, and Religion in the Medieval Mediterranean,” Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting, Fall 2021.
  • “Czech Mates: Kurdish and Czech Historic Ties,” The Tudeh Party of Iran at 80: A Critical Re-Appraisal and Re-Evaluation, St. Andrews University (UK), March 2021.
  • “An Ecolinguistics Approach to Contemporary Omani Poetry,” South Arabian Workshop, Leeds University, June 2021.
  • “Muftis in Moscow: A Survey of Islamic Legal Discourse and Diplomacy in Russia,” Columbia University, May 2021.
  • Post-living Ontologies of the Transdeceased / Postdeceased:
    Existential, Legal, & Spiritual Expressions of Undesired and Wrongful Life,” POSTHUMAN MIMESIS: EMBODIMENT, AFFECT, CONTAGION, Leuven University (EU funded Conference), May 2021.
  • “Decoding Ancient Narratives: Translating Egyptian Literature,” Sichuan University-Pittsburgh Institute, China, 2020.
  • “Excavating Egyptian Emotions: Artifacts of Feeling Embedded in Textscapes,” Visualiser les émotions dans l’Égypte ancienne (Visualizing the Emotions of Ancient Egypt) in conjunction with the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology (IFAO), University of Liege (Belgium), 2019.
  • “Transnational Solidarities at the Pan-African Festival of Algiers 1969,” [Keynote] The Black Arts Movement in the United States and Algeria Conference, Abdelhamid Ibn Badis University (Algeria), 2019.
  • “Memories of the Pan African Festival of Algiers 1969,” The Black Arts Movement in the United States and Algeria Conference, Abdelhamid Ibn Badis University (Algeria), 2019.
  • “Geographies of the Caspian in the Life & Spiritual Turkmen Poetry of Magtymguly Pyragy,” The Caspian in the History of Early Modern and Modern Eurasia Conference, Yale Program in Iranian Studies, March 2018.
  • “Facing Mirrors: Transgender Performance, Embodiment, & Narrative in Iranian Film” (lecture, screening, & Q&A), Persian Circle at Yale, Yale University, February 2019.
  • “Excavating Spirituality on the Silk Road: Sufismin Post-Soviet Central Asia,” Iranian Studies Colloquium, Yale University, January 2019.
  • “Islamic Law in Central Asia since the fall of the Soviet Union,” Yale Law School, November 2018.
  • “Translating Transsexuality in Iran: Gender Transitions in Islamic Law, Theatre, and Film,” Yale Macmillan Center (Translation Initiative), November, 2018.
  • “Memories of Slavery in Zanzibar Rendered in Literature, Testimonials, and Film,” Fourth Annual Conference of the Iranian Studies Initiative: Slavery and Sexual Labor in the Middle East and North Africa, University of California Santa Barbara, October 2018.
  • “Islam and Disability in the Arab World: Representations of Disabled Bodies in Islamic Law, Television, and Film,” Emerging DisabilityIssues: Varieties of DisabilityActivism and Disability Studies: Euro-Mediterranean Conference on Disability Studies and Disability Activism organized by the Department of Disability Studies, University of Malta, 2018.
  • “Excavating the Medieval Islamic Bazaar of Merv,” Commonwealth Club of California, 2018.
  • “Langston Hughes in Uzbekistan: The Poet’s Visits to Synagogues, Mosques, and Madrasas in Bukhara,” Commonwealth Club of California, 2018.
  • “Post-Soviet Islam, Identity, and Politics in Central Asia,” Commonwealth Club of California, 2018.
  • “Excavating Nature & Spiritual Geographies in Contemporary Omani Poetry,” Appropriations, Representations, Productions: Engagements with “Nature” in the MENA Region from the 19th Century Till Today, Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin, January 2018.
  • “Shia Jurisprudencein Iran: Adjudicating Gender, Reproduction, and Cinema in Islamic Law,” Harvard University in Iran, 2017.
  • “Surveying Sufi Verses and Shrines: Mysticism from Rumi to Ayatollah Khoemeini and Beyond,” Harvard University in Iran, 2017.
  • “Excavating Islam and Gender in Contemporary Omani Poetry” in the workshop Gender and Identity in the Gulf: Cultural Constructions and Representations, Gulf Research Meeting at Cambridge University, August 2017.
  • “Shamanism and Neuroscience,” American Center for Mongolian Studies Conference on Transdisciplinary Research in Mongolia: Bridging the Cultural-Natural Science Divide, American Center for Mongolian Studies (Ulaanbaatar), 2017.
Excavating an Islamic bazaar on the Silk Road
Excavating in Sudan

• “Geographies of Disability in the Writings of Rimbaud: Mapping Colonialism and Disablement in Yemen and Ethiopia,” Connecting the Dots in a Glocalized World, Sultan Qaboos University, 2016.
• “Scenes from the Screen: Masterpieces of Iranian Film” (Invited Guest Speaker in Iran), Commonwealth Club of California, 2016.
• “Surveying Stanzas and Shrines: Sufism and Poetry in Iran” (Invited Guest Speaker in Iran), Commonwealth Club of California, 2016.
• “Dig It: Archaeology & Cultural Heritage in Iran” (Invited Guest Speaker in Iran), Commonwealth Club of California, 2016.
• “Journey to the Marketplace: Tourism and Business in Iran” (Invited Guest Speaker in Iran), Commonwealth Club of California, 2016.
• “Advancing Disability Rights in Bhutan & Oman,” The Royal Palace of Bhutan/Center for Bhutan Studies, November 2015.
• “Preserving Endangered Languages & Heritage in Oman,” Sultan Qaboos University, Sultanate of Oman, 2015 (guest lecture).
• “Writing Refugees,” Sultan Qaboos University, Sultanate of Oman, 2015.
• “Trespassing Boundaries in Sound, Space, & Spirit,” 2015 World Conference of the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM) in Kazakhstan, July 2015.
• “From Leprosy to the Willow Tree: Decoding Cinematic Disability & Spirituality,” Rethinking Disability on Screen Symposium, University of York, May 2015.
• “The Contendings of Horus & Seth,” American University of Beirut, April 2015.
• “Sufism & the State in Central Asia, Jamia Millia Islamia (India), February 2015.
• “X Marks the Spot: Mapping Malcolm’s Encounters with Sudan,” American University of Beirut, February 2015.
• “Memories of the Mongols at Merv: Surveying Archaeological & Textual Accounts,” National University of Mongolia, June 2014.
• “Subversives & Saints: Sufism and the State in Central Asia” (Anis Makdisi Lecture/Arts and Humanities Initiative), American University of Beirut, Spring 2014.
• “Mleeta: An Archaeology of Terror or Resistance?,” 19th Annual European Association of Archaeologists, Pilsen (Plzeň), Czech Republic, 2013.
• “Adjudicating Bodily Difference in Iranian Islamic Jurisprudence,” Sexual Sovereignty: Citizenship, Governmentality, Territory Conference, American University of Beirut, 2013.
• “Adjudicating Antiquity: The Taliban & Archaeology,” World Archaeology Congress (Jordan), January 2013.
• “Women and Medieval Islamic Shrine Visitation in Turkmenistan,” Harriman Institute, Columbia University, 2011.
• “Recent Fatwas from the Ulema Council of Afghanistan: the Role of Islamic Jurisprudence in Afghanistan in the Post-9/11 Era,” Harriman Institute, Columbia University, 2011.
• “Islam and Gender in the Czech and Slovak Republics,” Yale University, November 2010.
• “Journeys into the Heart of Islam: Sufi Travels and Tales,” Brown University, 2010.
• “Czech Mates: Collaborations between Iranian and Czech Communists During the Cold War,” the 15th Annual World Convention of the Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN), Columbia University, May 2010.
• “Tombstones for Tables: Posthumous Living in the Islamic City of the Dead,” The Oriental City Conference, Institute of Oriental Philology at Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland, May 2009.
• Discussant, “Production and Transmission of Islamic Knowledge in Azerbaijan: Between Traditional Authorities and New Actors” (Dr. Rufat N. Sattarov), The Changing Social Role of Islam in Post-Soviet Eurasia (Conference), Harvard University, March 20-21st, 2009.
• “Iran and Tajikistan: Perfect Together?” 14th Annual World Convention of the Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN), Columbia University, May 2009.
• “A Russian-Iranian Cinematic Encounter: The Birth of Iranian Film,” Empires and Revolutions: Iranian-Russian encounters since 1800 Conference, Iran Heritage Foundation and London Middle East Institute, SOAS (LMEI), School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Summer 2009.
• “Emotional Egyptians: Excavating, Cataloging and Defining Emotion,” Harvard University, March 2009.
• “Ancient Egyptian Emoticons: Excavating Fossils of Cognition in Art and Literature,” the Humanities Center of Harvard University, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, March 2008.
• “Ancient Egyptian Emoticons: Decoding Hieroglyphic Symbols for Emotion,” Sharif University, Tehran, Iran, May 2009.
• “Hieroglyphic Preservation and Archaeological Excavation: The Abu Bakr Cemetery at the Great Pyramids of Giza,” The Aga Khan Humanities Project, University of Central Asia, Tajikistan, July 2008.
• “Excavating Anger in Ancient Greek and Ancient Egyptian Art and Literature,” the International Congress of Egyptologists, Rhodes, Greece, May 2008.

Excavating at the Great Pyramids

RECENT & UPCOMING PUBLICATIONS (SELECTED):

• “An Ecolinguistic Approach to Kumzari: Ecocultural Assemblages of Language and Landscape in Kumzar,” Cambridge Semitic Languages and Cultures, Cambridge University Press, 2024.

• “Excavating Nature & Spiritual Geographies in Contemporary Omani Poetry,” Special Issue: Appropriations, Representations, Productions: Engagements with ‘Nature’ in the MENA Region from the 19th Century till Today (Arab Studies Journal), Fall 2024.

• “Wuhan Punk Ecologies in Autonomous Community and Film: Anarchism & COVID-19 in the People’s Republic of China” (book chapter), Anarchism and Punk in Action: Iteration, Prefiguration, and Politicisation (ed. Jim Donaghey), Spring 2024.

• “Geographies of the Caspian in the Life & Spiritual Poetry of Magtymguly Pyragy,” International Journal of Persian Studies, 2022.

The Gift of Rumi, St. Martin’s Press, July 2022.

• “Disability on Arab Screens: Cripping Class, Religion, and Gender in Syria, Egypt, and Lebanon,” Disability and Society, 2022.

• “Mystics at the Movies: Sufism in Global Cinema,” (book chapter) in Kristian Petersen, (ed.) New Approaches to Islam in Film (Routledge), September 2021.

• “Revolutionary Spacialities and Transcultural Solidarities at the 1969 Pan-African Cultural Festival in Algeria,” Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora, 2021.

• “Memories of Sexual Slavery in Zanzibar in Literature, Testimonials, and Film,” Journal of Global Slavery, 2020.

• “Assembling Clones: Adjudicating Future Bodies in Shia Jurisprudence,” SHARIASource (Harvard Law School), February 2020.

• “Geographies of Islam and Disability in the Writings of Rimbaud: Mapping Religion, Colonialism, and Disablement in Yemen and Ethiopia,” Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies, 2019.

• “Performing Trans in Post-Revolutionary Iran: Gender Transitions in Islamic Law, Theatre, and Film,” Journal of Iranian Studies, 2019.

• “Subversives & Saints: Sufism and the State in Central Asia,” in Pauline Jones Luong, (ed.) Islam, Society and Politics in Central Asia, 2016.

“From Leprosy to The Willow Tree: Decoding Disability & Islamic Spirituality in Iranian Film,” Disability & Society, 2015.

• “X Marks the Spot: Mapping Malcolm’s Encounters with Sudan,” A Special Issue of the Journal of Africana Religions, January 2015.

• “Waging War on the Dead: Necropolitics and Sufi Shrine Destruction in Mali,” Archaeologies, December 2013.

• “Iranian-Russian Cinematic Encounters,” in Stephanie Cronin, (ed.) Iranian-Russian Encounters: Empires and Revolutions since 1800. London: Routledge, 2013.